Quotes from Bertolt Brecht

The aim of science is not to open the door to infinite wisdom, but to set a limit to infinite error.

What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a bank?

Sometimes it's more important to be human, than to have good taste.

Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life

Nowadays, anyone who wishes to combat lies and ignorance and to write the truth must overcome at least five difficulties. He must have the courage to write the truth when truth is everywhere opposed; the keenness to recognize it, although it is everywhere concealed; the skill to manipulate it as a weapon; the judgment to select those in whose hands it will be effective; and the running to spread the truth among such persons.

He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news.

Pleasures First look from morning's window The rediscovered book Fascinated faces Snow, the change of the seasons The newspaper The dog Dialectics Showering, swimming Old music Comfortable shoes Comprehension New music Writing, planting Traveling Singing Being friendly

All artforms are in the service of the greatest of all arts: the art of living.

People who understand everything get no stories.

Intelligence is not to make no mistakes, but quickly to see how to make them good.

What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone?

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is at their heels.

General, your tank is a powerful vehicle It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men. But it has one defect: It needs a driver. General, your bomber is powerful. It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant. But it has one defect: It needs a mechanic. General, man is very useful. He can fly and he can kill. But he has one defect: He can think.

Alas,we who wanted kindness, could not be kind ourselves.

We attacked a foreign people and treated them like rebels. As you know, it's all right to treat barbarians barbarically. It's the desire to be barbaric that makes governments call their enemies barbarians.

The war which is coming Is not the first one. There were Other wars before it. When the last one came to an end There were conquerors and conquered. Among the conquered the common people Starved. Among the conquerors The common people starved too.

As crimes pile up, they become invisible.

If we could learn to look instead of gawking, We'd see the horror in the heart of farce, If only we could act instead of talking, We wouldn't always end up on our arse. This was the thing that nearly had us mastered; Don't yet rejoice in his defeat, you men! Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard, The bitch that bore him is in heat again.

When something seems 'the most obvious thing in the world' it means that any attempt to understand the world has been given up.

It's all right to hesitate if you then go ahead.

What kind of times are they, when A talk about trees is almost a crime Because it implies silence about so many horrors?

The storm that bends the birch trees Is held to be violent But how about the storm That bends the backs of the roadworkers?

When praying does no good insurance does help.

Who does Not Know the Truth, is simply a Fool... Yet who Knows the Truth and Calls it a Lie, is a Criminal.